The present invention relates to a device for the thermal control of liquids, such as, in particular, beverages, contained in vessels, such as, in particular, bottles.
The invention assumes that, although it is possible for liquids to be heated very quickly, for example with the aid of microwaves, cooling requires a relatively large amount of time. Thus, for example, the cooling of beverages contained in bottles from room temperature to drinking temperature (xcx9c8xc2x0 C.) lasts several hours in a refrigerator and still at least one hour in a freezer.
The prior art discloses bottle coolers which use either iced water as cooling medium (DE-C 252 782) or else thermoelectric cooling means which, with appropriate polarity, extract heat from the surroundings and, with opposite polarity, emit heat, so-called Peltier elements (GB 844 652; DE 34 13 031 Al, DD 80 856).
A disadvantage of thermoelectric bottle coolers is that the lowering of the temperature of the bottle content takes up a relatively long time, since the bottles are surrounded by air. In this case, cooling is carried out by means of a fan (DD 80 856) or by heat conduction via a metal plate on which the bottle stands (GB 844 652). In DE-C 252 782, ice has to be topped up in order to maintain the desired low temperature, in this case the bottle standing in an insert consisting of flexible material impermeable to water, but this insert is suitable only for use with specific bottle diameters.
By contrast, the set object of the present invention is to provide a device with the aid of which it is possible to cool or heat bottle contents in containers on which Peltier elements act, whilst at the same time the increased heat transmission is to continue to be ensured, essentially irrespective of the diameter of the bottles.
This object is achieved by means of a device for the thermal control of beverages contained in vessels, in particular bottles, which has the features of the main claim. Advantageous embodiments are found in the subclaims.